At the beginning of 2012, I vowed to read through the entire Bible in a year. When I got to Leviticus, I remembered those who talk about reading the Pentateuch "by faith" and without understanding. This is not how I wanted to study the Bible, and thus I have been exploring the "wonderful world of Bible commentaries." They cost a bit of money and they certainly consume lots of shelf space. But it is worthwhile having something that you can read and learn from while reading a text. They also are handy for reference when you just have a question about something that is on your mind.

It is the beginning of 2013. I never got through the entire Bible in 2012. Indeed, I am just completing Deuteronomy, but have benefitted immensely from the writings of commentators on the various Pentateuchal books.

Obviously, at the rate I am going, I may not get to Job until 2014. But the three-volume set from WBC is just the sort of thing that I want to have handy. I read some of the author's introduction for the first of the three volumes when they arrived. I own other WBC commentaries, for OT and NT books, and also have commentaries on various other NT/OT books from five other commentary publishers, so that I can enjoy different commentary formats and styles. I am accustomed to the WBC format by now, and know that it is very in-depth--but you can go to the summary if that is all you want at the moment. I also know that the commentators come from varied, but evangelical, perspectives. All of this lets me know that I will benefit in some way from this 3-vol set once I get to that interesting part of the Bible--in 2014 or sooner!

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day. Such contributors include Gordon J. Wenham, Peter C. Craigie, John E. Goldingay, Donald A. Hagner, John Nolland, James D. G. Dunn, as well as dozens of others. Each of the now 60 volumes contains a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence as well as both the Hebrew and Greek helps These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, or the working minister and are often required reading in seminary. And now at long last volume 18B is published to be added to your 59 volume set!

David J. A. Clines is the author of all 3 volumes on the book of Job and is emeritus professor of biblical studies at the University of Sheffield. He has studied classical languages in Sydney and Semitic Languages in Cambridge, and he now concentrates on Hebrew lexicography and contemporary literary approaches to the Hebrew Bible. His numerous publications include The Theme of the Pentateuch (1978), What Does Eve Do to Help?(1990) and Interested Parties: The Ideology of Writers and Readers of the Old Testament (1995) as well as a major three-volume commentary on Job in the Word Biblical Commentary series (1989-2009). He is editor of The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew, the sixth volume of which was published in 2007.

All three commentaries on the book of Job look like this:

vol. 17 covers chapters 1-20 ISBN: 0849902169

vol. 18A covers chapters 21-37 ISBN: 0849902177

vol. 18B covers chapters 38-42 ISBN: 0785252673

This newest volume is strictly focused on the end of Job, God's answers. It's wonderful to have this volume now (2011) considering the previous volume was written five years ago (2006). Even though you'd probably only expect to find these books in a pastor's library, the language is easy to read and simple enough for a non-technical reader. Clines does a wonderful job unlocking the major themes of Job and the notes, scholarship and commentary he gives to each chapter brilliantly bring together the various voices we have grown so familiar with over the years of reading this book.

With the addition of this volume to the other 2 books on Job, 18B contains a 250 page bibliography of virtually everything that has been written about Job until now.

With Job being an often misunderstood, or confusing book, Clines does a wonderful job unlocking these scriptures and bringing it all to life.